Me As A 9th Grader

     Introduction:  When I finally (!) cleaned up my room, I found this paper I started writing about three years ago, when I was starting freshman year in high school.  It's not complete, but I decided to leave it as close to the original writing as possible, because I think it provides valuable insight in my first few days as a freshman.

Me as a 9th grader

     My first day of school began as most first days do.  Excited, meeting teachers, and having little conversations with people you haven't seen all summer.  After school, I ran with people from cross country.  During the first week of school, I received my first assignment and figured out the bus schedule.

     I met new people, and they try to have a conversation with me.  I try too, but after awhile I could not understand them any more.  Then, I would try to show I'm listening and say "hmm-mmm," "I don't know," or "maybe."  It's so easy to talk, but not so easy to listen.

     After the next few weeks, people talk to me less, or is it I who talk to people less?  But I was doing fairly well in school.  Soon in Physics, we learned kinematics.  It was hard to grasp, and looking back a month later, I think I need to review it.  At cross country, people talk to me less, but I listen more.  One may say I was eavesdropping, but I don't understand that much and no one will have a face-to-face conversation with me.  The little sounds that I do understand are very heartening.
     A few weeks after school started, I would have speech therapy every Thursday, after school, before cross country practice.  In the first marking period, I did accidently skipped one meeting because I forgot it.  Through my speech teacher, I learned of an iPad app that put exactly what I said on paper.  I tried to say "acid," but always manage to say "I said."  A few weeks later, it occurs to me how terrible, unintelligible I must sound to someone who had never heard me before.

     Closing:  I'm happy to say that now I am able to communicate more with others and they with me; I understand kinematics; and I am still running!